I must confess that I found the making of hodgepodge mini-albums quite daunting until I discovered my own little method of throwing them together with ease (and cheaply)!
The trick is to save all the chipboard backings from your product packaging. Here I have the makings of three hodgepodge minis that I've thrown together from recyled materials and a few extra bits leftover from previous kits. I just arrange the pieces from smallest to largest based on width. The minis here all have nine pieces pages.
This process really doesn't take as long as you think either if you go with the time-saving assembly line method. Divide and conquer. Take five minutes to divide your pages into stacks for as many minis as you need to do. These make great gifts! Next time you have a spare half hour start covering the pieces front and back with patterned paper. Don't overthink it, just cover them! I adhere the paper directly to the chipboard then cut off the excess and lightly sand the edges. Save even more time by lining the chipboard up along straight edges of the paper to avoid a cut or two.
With your next half hour edit and print pictures. I printed all mine at 2x3 inches to save thinking time. Some I ended up cutting down even smaller. You can also print a couple at 4x6 and adhere them back to back to add an extra page. Of course, when gifting it saves even more time to print multiples of the same photo and do a second or even third mini for the grandmas.
Once the photos are all adhered flip back through and add titles and journaling. I stuck to label stickers, journaling cards, and letter stickers on the interior so the mini would lay flat.
Once the interior is done, take a half hour to pretty up the front. look at all the empty ends and adhere dimensional embellishments on these. My mini is still laying totally flat but has all the dimensional bits that I love because they're carefully placed on outter edges of the pages.
Of course, another great way to save time is to limit your materials. The patterned papers are all from the
December Kits. Some of the embellishments are leftovers from
past kits. I also added a
Pink Vellum Embellished Butterfly to the mix.
Use a hole punch to punch out a spot for the book-binding ring on the left side of each page.
Tie on a pretty bow!
Save one for yourself and put one in the mail as a very special gift! (The trip to the post office is always the hardest part for me, lol).
The trick is to save all the chipboard backings from your product packaging. Here I have the makings of three hodgepodge minis that I've thrown together from recyled materials and a few extra bits leftover from previous kits. I just arrange the pieces from smallest to largest based on width. The minis here all have nine pieces pages.
This process really doesn't take as long as you think either if you go with the time-saving assembly line method. Divide and conquer. Take five minutes to divide your pages into stacks for as many minis as you need to do. These make great gifts! Next time you have a spare half hour start covering the pieces front and back with patterned paper. Don't overthink it, just cover them! I adhere the paper directly to the chipboard then cut off the excess and lightly sand the edges. Save even more time by lining the chipboard up along straight edges of the paper to avoid a cut or two.
With your next half hour edit and print pictures. I printed all mine at 2x3 inches to save thinking time. Some I ended up cutting down even smaller. You can also print a couple at 4x6 and adhere them back to back to add an extra page. Of course, when gifting it saves even more time to print multiples of the same photo and do a second or even third mini for the grandmas.
Once the photos are all adhered flip back through and add titles and journaling. I stuck to label stickers, journaling cards, and letter stickers on the interior so the mini would lay flat.
Once the interior is done, take a half hour to pretty up the front. look at all the empty ends and adhere dimensional embellishments on these. My mini is still laying totally flat but has all the dimensional bits that I love because they're carefully placed on outter edges of the pages.
Of course, another great way to save time is to limit your materials. The patterned papers are all from the December Kits. Some of the embellishments are leftovers from past kits. I also added a Pink Vellum Embellished Butterfly to the mix.
Use a hole punch to punch out a spot for the book-binding ring on the left side of each page.
Tie on a pretty bow!
Save one for yourself and put one in the mail as a very special gift! (The trip to the post office is always the hardest part for me, lol).
thank you for the tutorial and mini project idea!
ReplyDeletetotal genius Doris! Now I'll definitely tackle one of these!
ReplyDeletelove the idea!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous album! Love all of the colors you used - the pinks, greens, yellows and oranges. Love!
ReplyDeleteIt's been said already, but I must concur: GENIUS.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea! I love to create with recycled materials. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteDoris, this is awesome, you make it look so easy :)
ReplyDeleteClouds :)
I love it!
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea!
ReplyDelete